Blizzard released the Tier 12 Armor Set Preview this week, for Paladin, Mage, Rogue, Death Knight, Hunter and Priest classes. I think the Paladin set looks amazing (I'm a big fan of the armored dress/surcoat look, and you can never go wrong with HOODS and BADASS MASKS), but I also really like the Hunter set. Horns, a rad eyepatch, and a very nice fiery trim without being garish or gaudy? Sold!

But the Death Knight set...WTF. I'm very unimpressed with it, for a number of reasons.

First of all, the colors. Dear god, what is with those colors?? Every other set (except Rogue) has cool fiery colors, lots of red/orange/yellow mixed with some steel or silver framing. Rogues don't have the fire colors, but they are Rogues after all, and instead get a cool shadowy color scheme with rich browns, which works for me.

But Death Knights? No awesome fiery red etchings or complimentary contrasts for us, nope! Instead we get RUST. Rust, and greenish purple metal that looks like it was found in a junkyard somewhere. Seriously, this color combination makes me want to puke.

EDIT: Driving back to work today, I spotted something which made me realize another reason I don't like the look!

Now granted, there have been some additional colored sets released that are slightly better and less eye-stabbingly ugly, but the fact that this Rust set EXISTS is a crime against humanity.

Colors aren't my only complaint, though. The DK set is just plain inferior to the other sets when it comes to polish and detail! Look at the Paladin or Mage armor, the detail in the etchings, how crisp and sharp the edges and lines are. In comparison, the DK armor is dull and bland. The contrast is low, the lines are faded and muddy...it just has an unfinished, washed-out feel to it. It feels like a piece of artwork that hasn't had the final inking phase yet. :\

Finally, the design. The design is terrible. Seriously, a giant V shape on the chest is the best they could come up with? I mean, the Mage and Rogue sets aren't terribly creative either, but at least they still look distinctive and interesting. The other sets have so much fine detail - laces on the Priest chest, the spikey looking metal ridges on the Rogue chest, basically everything about the Paladin set - and DKs get stuck with a giant stupid V. Sigh.

There is literally nothing I like about this set. At all.

In conclusion:
• Terrible "Rust" color scheme
• Dull and lacking the polish of the other sets
• Uninspired, boring design lacking in creativity and style
• Ugly as the devil's face

The first thing I thought of when I saw the DK look was that Blizz must have thought that DKs were a bit on the horny side, but that's just me.

Given the Middle Eastern influence on the Mage set, I figured that's where the shoulders and garish coloring came from. The helm still seems to hail from Nordic inspired regions with the dragon-esque look to the wings, but come on. the Pally helm looks like it'd fit better on the DK, but that's just me.